Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

[James W.]

On a late production 1965 Corvette (St. Louis body), what color should the underbody seat support plates, seat belt anchor plates, etc. be? Since it a St. built body, should they be dip painted black or natural metal in appearance?

Thanks,

James West

[Joe L.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

On a late production 1965 Corvette (St. Louis body), what color should the underbody seat support plates, seat belt anchor plates, etc. be? Since it a St. built body, should they be dip painted black or natural metal in appearance?

Thanks,

James West

James-----


My RECOLLECTION is that the seat reinforcements were semi gloss black and the seat belt anchor plates were black phosphate finished.

[John H.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

On a late production 1965 Corvette (St. Louis body), what color should the underbody seat support plates, seat belt anchor plates, etc. be? Since it a St. built body, should they be dip painted black or natural metal in appearance?

Thanks,

James West

James -

That should be described in the "Underbody" paragraph at the very end of the "Chassis" section in your '65 JG.

[Michael M.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

James, When I removed mine to replace (rust) they had what appeared to be green zinc chromate primer topcoated with flat or semi black. I think they had not been repainted before I removed.

[Rob M.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

On my 65 St Louis car, the seat mounting steel channels were black and the seatbelt anchor plates were cad. I know that a lot of people claim the seatbelt anchor plates to be black, but my originals were cad and I had them re-plated.

Rob

[Keith B.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

My AO Smith car is simply green primer. When were the plates attached to the car in the assembly process?

[Rob M.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

Keith and others,
There is an article in the June 2006 Corvette Enthusiast by Mr. Hinckley that shows AO Smith cars with green primer finish on the under body supports and reinforcements. The same article show the St Louis cars with black primer on these parts. My 65 coupe was black on the seat reinforcements but cad on the seat belt anchors. I think there are several pictures in Noland Adams book that show bright finish on the seatbelt reinforcements. Maybe they came both ways

Here is a pic of my seatbelt plates before refinishing.

[John H.]

Re: Underbody Seat Mounting/Support Plate Color

My AO Smith car is simply green primer. When were the plates attached to the car in the assembly process?

Keith -

All of the riveted underbody reinforcements were attached to the underbody panel in the Body Shop, before the underbody was loaded on the body build truck. A.O. Smith didn't have a black dip-prime paint system, so they used the green zinc chromate paint system that was in place for painting the birdcage to paint small parts. Photo below of an original A.O. Smith underbody.